An English lesson for Bangla

DHARAMSALA, October 10

England revived their World Cup title defence as Dawid Malan smashed a career-best 140 and Reece Topley wreaked havoc with the ball in a 137-run hammering of Bangladesh here today.

Smarting from their nine-wicket thrashing by New Zealand in the tournament opener, England amassed 364/9 after their top-order fired with Malan forging century-plus partnerships with Jonny Bairstow (52) and Joe Root (82). Playing his first match of the tournament, left-arm quick Topley (4/43) wrecked Bangladesh’s top-order in the first six overs to set England up for an easy victory.

Bangladesh were all out for 227 in 48.2 overs, and it could have been a bigger loss but for battling knocks by Litton Das (76) and Mushfiqur Rahim (51).

“I think a really good performance to bounce back from a disappointing first game and we still feel there are areas to improve,” England captain Jos Buttler said. “I thought it was a fantastic score on that pitch, it got harder towards the end but we could’ve got more at the back end.”

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss but Buttler had no reason to feel aggrieved as he got what he had desired for England — bat first. Bangladesh began tightly but it turned out the England openers were only biding their time in the picturesque venue with a snow-capped mountain range as its backdrop. Malan hit Mustafizur Rahman for a couple of sixes en route a 39-ball fifty and Bairstow could not be denied a half-century in his 100th ODI either.

Even after Bairstow departed for 52, his leg stumps pegged back by a fizzing Shakib delivery, there was no respite for Bangladesh. — Reuters

Scoreboard

England

J Bairstow b Shakib 52

D Malan b Mahedi 140

J Root c Rahim b Islam 82

J Buttler b Islam 20

H Brook c Das b Mahedi 20

L Livingstone b Islam 0

S Curran c Shanto b Mahedi 11

C Woakes c Mahedi b Taskin 14

A Rashid c Shanto b Mahedi 11

M Wood not out 6

R Topley not out 1

Extras: (b 1, lb 2, w 4) 7

Total: (9 wickets, 50 overs) 364

FOW: 1-115, 2-266, 3-296, 4-307, 5-307, 6-327, 7-334, 8-352, 9-362

Bowling O M R W

Mustafizur Rahman 10 0 70 0

Taskin Ahmed 6 0 38 1

Shoriful Islam 10 0 75 3

Mahedi Hasan 8 0 71 4

Shakib Al Hasan 10 0 52 1

Mehidy Hasan Miraz 6 0 55 0

Bangladesh

T Hasan c Bairstow b Topley 1

Tanzid c Bairstow b Topley 1

NH Shanto c Livingstone b Topley 0

Shakib b Topley 1

MH Miraz c Buttler b Woakes 8

M Rahim c Rashid b Topley 51

T Hridoy c Buttler b Livingstone 39

Mahedi b Rashid 14

T Ahmed b Curran 15

S Islam b Wood 12

M Rahman not out 3

Extras: (lb 4, w 3) 7

Total: (all out, 48.2 overs) 227

FOW: 1-14, 2-14, 3-26, 4-49, 5-121, 6-164, 7-189, 8-195, 9-221

Bowling O M R W

Chris Woakes 8 0 49 2

Reece Topley 10 1 43 4

Sam Curran 7.2 0 47 1

Mark Wood 10 0 29 1

Adil Rashid 10 0 42 1

Liam Livingstone 3 0 13 1